Is learning Taiwanese useful?

About how much Taiwanese do you know?

  • No knowledge
  • Basic greetings
  • Beginner level
  • Conversational
  • Advanced
  • Almost fluent
  • Fluent

0 voters

I want to start learning Taiwanese, but I wanted to know if learning this language has any big benefits. I want to start learning it for cultural reasons, but is there any other advantages that any of you have gained because you learned Taiwanese?

I heard it’s tricky, but at least you don’t have to start over with a new character system.

If you consider knowing the difference between Migong and damdam important. Then, yes.

Probably not so important if you live in NOrth TAiwan but if you live in South Taiwan it can be useful.

Course for me, my Mandarin is heavily Taiwan accented so taxi drivers and the such will switch to Taiwanese with me instantly after hearing a few words of my mandarin. Iv really been able to practice my Taiwanese the last few weeks in Taiwan. Havent spoken Taiwanese in basically ten years while in Calif.

If you do business it’s very important, you always know what they say behind your back, or better in your face with a smile about the ongoing negotiations (in Taiwanese), so, never tell them you have a grasp of it … and when your married it’s better to know some, this way you know what/how the family thinks about you … :wink:

Anyways, if you want to learn it, just do …

I feel a bit left out when I visit my girlfriend’s family and they’e all nattering away in Hokkien. Same when I go to church with her. Once they put me in the choir and I was supposed to sing hymns in the lingo. I just mouthed it like a fish, of course.

Well, I’m learning, but it sure is difficult sometimes. I’ll have an easier time once I understand how the Pinyin for Taiwanese works, but until then I’ll just have to slowly endure. Once I get the pinyin for Taiwanese down, I can start learning a lot more vocabulary words and expressions at a much faster rate.